KISS Method of Web Development
by Darick

In almost every aspect of life and business, we hear the adage “Keep It Simple, Stupid!”.  However, it isn’t as often that somebody explain how to make things simple.

I have been web developing for over ten years.  From major industrial companies to full-fledged e-commerce sites, there are always common threads, and pitfall.  I will try to give some quick advice to help start you on your way to web development success.

Step Back

Remember back to elementary school for a minute.  Before you ever dove into a research paper you always wrote an outline.  Depending on where your career and education has taken you, the outlines you use could have many different styles, from traditional outlines to flow-charts to state-machines, and any number of other versions.  Web development has only one difference… it doesn’t matter which method you use.  Chances are good that the style you are comfortable with will work well for the website you are going to develop.  Sit down with a pencil and paper and write it down.  If you’re like me, you will try to convince yourself that you know what it is going to look like, and say “I don’t need to write it down”.  Then halfway through the project you forgot what the next step, or page, or plug-in was going to be.  Taking a couple of extra minutes at this step will save you immense time in the long run.

Know Your Purpose

If you are creating a web-page that is anything more than a MySpace clone, your purpose is probably not to have the coolest web site on the block.  It isn’t even to have one as cool as the one the 17 year-old from church developed.  Mine rarely factor very high in the cool department when it comes to 17-year-olds.  The absolute most important thing to keep in mind at all times in web development is your purpose.  Are you blogging about szechuan chicken?   Make sure it is easy to get back to the main blog, as that is going to be the meat of your site.  E-Commerce sites need to have links to finish purchases, add items, and show progress through the sale at all times.  Even if you have support “about the product” pages, remember that the purpose of E-Commerce is to sell something.  Make sure the customer can buy it.  Consider why somebody is coming to your site, and always pay attention to it.

Know your Audience

No matter what you think of political correctness, it has no place in web development (it does in content, you don’t want to offend people, just leave it out of the design).  You will not be able to get everybody to visit your site.  If you do, let me know, I have a job opening for you.  If you are selling fine china, you don’t want your site to appeal to followers of the X-Games.  Again, put yourself in the shoes of your customer.  If I am going to buy a desktop computer, I probably am not going to react well to a site filled with pictures of cruise ships and the beach.  Pay attention to color schemes used often on pages that would appeal to similar demographics.

Don’t Over-Gadget

About 5 years ago, templated add-ons really started to gain steam.  You can add a video and a blog and your favorite song and have a film strip from your last vacation.  Talk to the 17-year-old, because she probably has all of them on her site.  It gets very easy to fall into the coolness of a specific app or gadget.  After all, your phone has them, google has them, why shouldn’t your web page?  The problem is not only the distraction of all of these things pulling customers eyes away from the content, but also the speed at which the page loads.  It is ok to be a little cool and find a gadget that works, but when you start having 3 things going on on every page, people will never get to what you want them to get to. Stay focused on your purpose.

Have Fun

Finally, no matter what your skill level in web development is, you can’t be any good at it without having fun.  By the fact that you are reading this you probably already enjoy learning, so you are halfway there.  While no site is ever “done”, you can get a sense of completeness and accomplishment relatively quickly.   95% of people reading this will never be a professional web developer, so try not to take it too seriously.

Darick W. LaSelle